PASTPERFECT-ONLINE TECH TIPS

Transcription

1 PASTPERFECT-ONLINE TECH TIPS This section of the User s Guide provides you with additional technical tips on how to have additional, more complex features on your site. You can also check out the searchable Knowledge Base on our website ( for other Tech Tips that may be created later. If you have any difficulty, please contact the Support Office for more help, by phone or by at pposupport@museumsoftware.com. 1

2 PastPerfect-Online Tech Tips 2 EMBEDDING DOCUMENTS IN YOUR PPO RECORDS Many organizations wish to provide the web visitor with access to related Word and PDF documents. By design, PastPerfect-Online exports just your data and web quality images to your website. However, there is an easy way to make many types of documents accessible through your PastPerfect-Online site. **Important** While this is technically possible, you ll want to be absolutely certain that the content contained in these files is appropriate and secure before you upload your documents. The process starts by uploading the document that you want to share on your website, then continues by placing the HTML code in your PastPerfect record. Here are the steps I used to add a PDF file (hanley_documentscampbird_letter.pdf) to a PastPerfect-Online Archive catalog record: 1. To upload the document to a website or web server, I chose to use I chose this document hosting service provider because they have a document viewer that I can embed into my PastPerfect-Online records. It s free and easy, I just had to set up a new account. Please note, before you upload documents to this site or a similar site, be sure that you agree with their privacy statement and make sure their copyright policies match those of your institution. 2. In the next step, scribd.com asked me to describe my documents. I clicked Save Changes. 3. Once the file was uploaded, scribd.com provided me with two HTML code options. One was the code for the Document URL, which would appear as a hyperlink on your record where a user can go to see the document on scribd.com. The other option is the Embed Code option, which inserts a document viewer directly into your PastPerfect-Online record page. I chose the Embed Code option for this example. Look under the Share this Document section as in the figure below for the option to Embed Code. Click on the Copy button or manually copy the Embed Code HTML.

3 PastPerfect-Online Tech Tips 3 4. The next step is to insert the copied HTML into a field for the PastPerfect record. I opened PastPerfect and navigated to the appropriate record for the uploaded document. For this example, I decided to use my user defined field 21 which I renamed Multimedia Files for Web. 5. In the PastPerfect record I clicked the Custom tab, then the Edit button, and then clicked to place my cursor into field 21. I entered the text To view this document in PDF form, please click on the player below: in field I pasted the HTML code that I copied in step 3 by clicking Edit then Paste at the very top-left corner of the screen. Please note, the HTML code will be different for each document you upload and the code will be several lines long. Make sure you have copied all of it. 7. When finished, I clicked the Save button to see the screen below. Be sure the field where you pasted the HTML code is included in the Web Export Wizard for your next upload. Once uploaded and processed, the link or viewer will appear on your PPO website for the appropriate records.

4 PastPerfect-Online Tech Tips 4 Below is a sample web page with the embedded document viewer.

5 PastPerfect-Online Tech Tips 5 EMBEDDING AUDIO FILES IN YOUR PPO RECORDS Many organizations wish to provide the web visitor with access to audio files, including oral history interviews. By design, PastPerfect-Online exports just your data and web quality images to your website. However, there is an easy way to make audio files accessible through your PastPerfect-Online site. **Important** While this is technically possible, you ll want to be absolutely certain that the content contained in these files is appropriate and secure before you upload your documents. The process starts by uploading the files that you want to share, then continues by placing the HTML code in your PastPerfect record. Here are the steps I used to add an audio file (Herbert_Hoover_Letter.mp3) to a PastPerfect-Online Archive catalog record. (Please note: at the time this article was written, SoundCloud.com only allows for 120 minutes of storage space per free account and they may have a file deletion period if the file is not accessed within a certain time frame). 1. First, you will need to upload the audio file to a website that will host it for you. I used as they have a player that can be embedded in the PastPerfect-Online record. It was easy to set up a free account with them. Uploading the file is fairly straightforward. Then I entered a description and tags about the audio file, allowing other users to find the files, gaining even more exposure for your museum! 2. Once the file has been uploaded, I choose Share which is where SoundCloud.com provides the HTML code for embedding the player in the record page of your website. This will allow website visitors to play the audio file without leaving the collection. I highlighted the Embed Code. Then I copied the text by holding down the CTRL key and the C key at the same time. 3. The next step is to insert the HTML code into a field in the appropriate PastPerfect record. For this example, I decided to use Custom Field 21 which I renamed Audio Files. 4. In the PastPerfect record, I clicked the Custom tab, then the Edit button, and then clicked to place my cursor into Field 21. I then typed: To listen to a reading of this letter, please click the play button on the player below: 5. Then I pressed the Enter key on my keyboard and I pasted the HTML code that I copied in step 2 by clicking Edit then Paste at the very

6 PastPerfect-Online Tech Tips 6 top-left corner of the screen. Please note, the HTML code will be different for each document you upload and the code will be several lines long. Make sure you have copied all of it. Here is a sample: <object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value=" loud.com%2ftracks%2f "></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src=" ud.com%2ftracks%2f " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href=" Hoover Letter</a> by <a href=" When you are finished inserting the code into the PastPerfect catalog record, just click the Save button to save these changes. Be sure you have the field where you pasted the HTML code selected to display on your website in the Web Publishing Wizard in PastPerfect. The player will appear on your PPO website the next time you create the files and upload/publish your data.

7 PastPerfect-Online Tech Tips 7 When an Internet visitor visits this record through my PastPerfect-Online site, it will look like this:

8 PastPerfect-Online Tech Tips 8 EMBEDDING VIDEO FILES IN YOUR PPO RECORDS Many organizations wish to provide the web visitor with access to related video files. By design, PastPerfect-Online exports just your data and web quality images to your website. However, there is an easy way to make many video files accessible through your PastPerfect-Online site. **Important** While this is technically possible, you ll want to be absolutely certain that the content contained in these files is appropriate and secure before you upload your documents. To get started, you will need to upload the video file that you want people to see to a website or server that will host it for you, and then in the PastPerfect record you will need to create an HTML link to that multimedia file. Here are the steps I used to add a video to an Object catalog record set to be included in my PastPerfect-Online site. 1. First, you will need to upload the video file to a website that will host it for you. I chose to use because they have a video player that can be embedded into my PastPerfect-Online records. I started by setting up a free account. Uploading a video file is fairly straightforward: you will need to enter a description and tags about the video file (I chose the Education tag), and choose the options that you want relating to this video. Please note that if you want to embed this video into your PastPerfect-Online site then you ll want to be sure to choose to allow embedding on external sites. 2. Once the file has been uploaded, youtube.com will provide the HTML code to embed the video player in your record. Copy that HTML code (by highlighting the code text with your mouse, then holding down the CTRL key and the C key on your keyboard at the same time). 3. The next step is to enter the HTML code for that file into the PastPerfect record. To do this you need to paste the HTML code into a field that is being uploaded to the web in the PastPerfect record. For this example, I decided to use my user defined field I typed the following in field 21: To view a video of this item in action, please click the Play button on the player below: 5. Then I hit the Enter key on my keyboard and then I pasted the HTML code from Step 2 into that field (to paste the text, hold down the CTRL

9 PastPerfect-Online Tech Tips 9 key and the V key on the keyboard at the same time). Please note that this HTML code will be different for each video file you upload. My HTML code for this example looks like this: <object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value=" </param> <embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object> In the PastPerfect catalog record, that looks like this: When you are finished inserting the code, just click the Save button to save these changes. The link or player will appear on your PPO website the next time you create the files and upload/publish your data.

10 PastPerfect-Online Tech Tips 10 Here is a sample of how an embedded player will show on the site: